And yet, somehow, life goes on...

[johnny_blade]

Greetings to all! I hope you enjoyed Shabbos (I sure did).

As you all (probably) know by now, John McCain picked Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. When I heard about this, it begged 2 main questions: 1) Who? and 2) Why?

I started out being a little skeptical about this, but I've gradually warmed up to this exceptional idea of McCain's.

Comments

Re: #include <stdio.h> (Part 1)

[anonymous]

1) I didn't see the ad, so can't comment. Wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit off-guard, especially considering Barack's historic and moving speech.

2) NO! Not just because he visited the region. He's been researching this stuff and getting up to speed on everything for months. He's worked with Biden on the foreign relations committee and had a LOT more invested to say the least in finding out as much as possible about any given issue, foreign or domestic as a SENATOR, to say nothing of running against Hillary frikkin' Clinton in the longest ever Presidential Primary.

Do you really think she could hold her own in a debate with Biden? McCain met the girl once before settling on her.

Being against the war from the beginning is not just a 'brilliant political move'; indeed, everybody was telling him, 'hey, this is gonna work, don't shoot yourself in the foot'. That is what being commander in chief is all about, I always thought. (Though there is a fine line between sticking to your guns and being inanely stubborn.) Back then he said sectarian violence would be a major problem. Yes, we were at least partially wrong about the tactics (re the surge), but he was right on the war itself.

As for Palin's experience as governor: consider that Alaska is a state of 600,000 with a state legislature that meets all of 90 days a year. While Barack certainly didn't run a state, I think after this grueling campaign against HRC, in which he emerged victorious when the odds were stacked against him, in which he's raised more money than any US politician in history, the claim that he's never "run anything" is ridiculous. Palin certainly never went through such an experience.

The point about not commenting on every single issue is taken. But governors have take an interest in the affairs of the country at the state-level in the past. The only one really affecting her is energy. What evidence do we have that she has thought critically, really long and hard, about vital economic and foreign policy issues, when she hasn't had to deal with them at home, and hasn't commented on them in any context ever? And while absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, when she was asked about Iraq she dodged the issue. You tell me how she's gonna catch up on all this stuff in less than 8 wks, and be prepared to take over from Darth Vader, I mean Dick Cheney. Maybe McCain is trying to relegate the VP position to figurehead status, like it was before Reagan.

3) OK, we're basically agreeing about this. This is not a fundamental issue for me in any case.

4)I was half asleep when I was reading that particular thingamabob so you may well be right.

5) But this wasn't a pure opinion piece from Arianna or one of their resident bloggers. This was reporting on what other papers - local papers, presumably with much more of a stake in knowing their governor - thought of her. I wouldn't send you a Krugman piece any more than you would send me a Krauthammer (who btw thinks she's a terrible pick. I don't, but I don't think its great either).

6) What are you talking about? The one when she was mayor of Anchorage? Where's the ambiguity in that one?

Re: #include <stdio.h> (Part 1)

[johnny_blade]

1) It's only historic and moving if he wins the election. Otherwise, who's going to remember what he says? Plus, he didn't get any boost from it according to a new CNN poll (of course that could be because the day after McCain announced that Palin was his running mate, which was also historic)

2) Up to speed on everything for months? How? By being in the Senate only half the time? Also, I can tell he's committed to finding out as much as possible about any given issue: He found out enough about Pakistan to want to unilaterally invade it, he's found out enough about Iran and Syria's connections to terrorism that he wants to open up talks with them (usefulness of talking to either of them = zero, as Israel has proven multiple times over the years with Syria), and he's researched the idea of oil drilling to be against it. Oh, wait, he's for it now, isn't he? Whoops, my mistake. He may have "researched" more issues than Palin, but has he ever put implemented anything into practice?

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by bringing up HRC at the end of that paragraph. Please clarify.

Could she hold a debate with Biden? I don't know. One of the things with Palin is that we actually have no clue about that.

BTW, I want you to admit something: If we had indeed found even 1 WMD in Iraq, Obama's move would have been political suicide. Plus (re the surge) if we had listened to the Army in the first place (and actually Biden's idea for dividing Iraq into 3) we would have had very little sectarian violence, and thus (many) Americans wouldn't have gotten so mad over the war.

He ran a successful campaign for 2 main reasons: 1) He got the money 2) HRC made some very dumb moves (she moved to the center WAY too quickly). I don't care how small Alaska is, she still actually ran something, putting ideas into practice, not just saying words to people to believe in her message. That takes a lot of work, too, Eli. Plus, let's not forget that she also ran a very difficult campaign for becoming Governor in which the odds were stacked against her. She defeated an incumbent governor in the Repub primary (not easy, as any political scientist will tell you), then she defeated a former governor in the actual election. I think saying that Palin never went through such an experience is slightly erroneous (Yes, she never did a national campaign before, but I think her difficulty rating is still up there considering her competition. And don't even think about reminding me that there was more than one person running against him in the primary. You and I both know that it was going to be Obama vs. Hillary all along)

Governors have taken an interest, as you have said. Who's to say she hasn't? Do you think that the governor of Wyoming (as an example) doesn't have an educated opinion of national or foreign issues just because we don't ask him ever? The people that are interviewed constantly on CNN and such are those governors who people actually recognize (Ah-nuld is a great example of this), and so the networks go after their opinions. The fact that no one has really seriously interviewed Palin (short of the Time article 2 weeks before she was nominated) owes to the fact that Alaska is small, and no one actually had ever heard of her.

5) Ah yes, because every journalist and newspaper is totally fair and balanced, right? Please...There is honestly no such thing as fair and balanced in journalism anymore. Personal and political feelings are bound to get caught up in everything that people do and say/write. The fact that someone in the local paper(s) doesn't like her means zip. Check out the people who do like her a lot: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1837713,00.html

Krauthammer thinks she's a terrible pick? That's interesting. Can you post the link to that article? I'd like to read that, actually.

6) (She was mayor of Wasilla, not Anchorage) "After the initial roller coaster, we were ready to work for Mayor Palin, Emmons said." Were they really, or were they only saying that in public, and doing something else?